I don't think their will be any further significant price falls, for me the market has pretty much bottomed out. If you are in the market to buy Id look now, particularly as the euro is buoyant against the pound.

Whilst there maybe land, I can't see that being developed, as you say there are plenty properties for sale plus it's a big financial risk developing.

Don't forget many properties have been on the market for a while....owners hoping for prices to come back up leave them on the market whilst renting out.

We are in a similar position in that we are looking to purchase a 2 bed property with a private pool with a similar budget. The difference is that we don't propose to let it and we know where we want to buy.

I agree with the other posts that property in PB is unlikely to get any cheaper (although the exchange rate may become more favourable, but I would't bank on it).

I don't think that being a cash buyer provides you with any advantage whatsoever, that it won't help you to get a better deal. Also, don't expect to have an offer under the asking price accepted, in my experience sellers want the price they advertise at.

If you have actually managed to get an estate agent to contact you, then you are doing better then we are. I have sent emails and enquiries with no reply. Today I have tried to call 4 different agents - one has a voice mail, one didn't answer and worryingly, the numbers were unobtainable for the other 2! I read complaints about property moving slowly / not selling in Lanzarote, but if this is how things are, then no wonder.

Hi, you can indeed put an offer in below price advertised and get it accepted....as I did c10% under. Being a cash buyer certainly does put you in a better position, it means you can work to really quick timescales to complete the purchase.

It's annoying when companies don't get back to you, the approach Id suggest would be to let them know what date you will be visiting the island and ask them to arrange some viewings on days you can commit to with them....around playa blanca you'd probably easily get around 6 in a day. Both agents I've already mentioned I found extremely helpful through this approach.

Sounds like a plan, but unfortunately we have tried this and stil silence.

I think your advice has been spot on so far and think we will keep trying.

We have recently sold a property in the UK which took 6 weeks from start to finish, so perhaps our expectations are unrealistic when applied to Lanzarote. UK agents are highly regulated and I am not sure that this is the case in Lanzarote, though I stand to be corrected.

Back to the original subject, I wouldn't be buying somewhere needing / expecting to rent it to holiday makers.

The reason I want / need income from the property is that investing £200,000 without looking for a return implies you have a very very good pension or are so rich you do not need £200,000. At the end of the day, buying property in Spain is very illiquid. That is to say if you ever needed your money out it could take years for the property to sell and you might never get back what you paid for it.

I can get 3.3% risk free in a 5 year savings account in the UK - £6,600 pre-tax. That pays for 4 separate week long luxury villa holidays to Lanzarote every year for 5 years and then I get all of my cash back.

Maybe that's a better way to go? With thousands of villas up for rent in Lanzarote (all illegally as well) I can rent a far far better villa than I could ever buy and maintaining it is someone else's problem.... Also as there is so much undeveloped land in Lanzarote I simply can't see property prices rising significantly there.

We are all different, I deliberately bought at a price meaning have no need to rent it out....I could but it's my home and don't want someone else in it. Doesn't mean I am rich, but my choice how I spend it....which I totally believe it's money well spent!

You should only do wha you feel is right for you and your comfortable with.

What you say is fair enough, but as the last post says, these are questions only you can answer and you should do what feels right for you.

Perhaps your question should have been along the following lines:

"I have 220,000 euros I would like to invest, to get the best return would I be better:A) buying a 2 bed villa in PB and renting it out;B) leaving it in a high interest account in the UK / Ireland;C) investing in property at home and renting it out?"

In our case, we are not rich, we are simply looking to buy a home for ourselves, so we are coming at it from a different angle; what we may or may not make is not really a concern for us.

If you think you might need to get your money out is investing in property in Lanzarote a good idea at all? You are right that places can take ages to sell, for example we looked at a property 4 years ago and it had been on the market for 3 years then. It has just sold.

The reason I want / need income from the property is that investing £200,000 without looking for a return implies you have a very very good pension or are so rich you do not need £200,000. At the end of the day, buying property in Spain is very illiquid. That is to say if you ever needed your money out it could take years for the property to sell and you might never get back what you paid for it.

Another factor to bear in mind are the extremely high entry/exit costs in Spain; You will pay 10-11% in taxes and fees when you purchase and then 5% to the estate agent when you sell, and unless you have submitted a tax return in Spain for every year that you have owned the property, you will also pay a further 3% withholding tax when you sell.

e.g. A €200,000 property will actually cost you about €220,000, so in order for you to recoup that €220,000, then your property would need to sell for nearly €240,000.

e.g. A €200,000 property will actually cost you about €220,000, so in order for you to recoup that €220,000, then your property would need to sell for nearly €240,000.

That very clearly sums it up.

Overall then making a EU200k investment will cost EU20k in fees and then another EU10k in exit fees.

It can take years to sell a property when you do want to exit and with all the associated costs you will probably make a loss.

There is very little rental return due to massive oversupply.

So I'm probably much better off investing the money in the UK for a 3.3% return on cash and then having lots of nice holidays on the interest.

I can understand why some may still want to buy - ie if it's just for their own use and they have got an income / pension that's enough for them both for now and many years into the future (bearing in mind how long sales take in Spain) and they definitely want to holiday in the same place every holiday.

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